The Fallen and the Forgotten
by walkingdeaddaryl
Summary: After a bad past, Clary has become one of the hottest players at Alicante High, along with her best friend Isabelle. She has never really trusted anyone and promises to herself that she never will, but what happens when a golden stranger- who is notorious for getting around as well- wants to figure out who she really is? will she let him in, or choose to shut him out?
1. Chapter 1

I wake up around 6 A.M. to my cell phone blaring. "Isabelle, what is wrong with you? I have another hour until I need to wake up! What's your deal?!"

"Clary, shut up! I just got a text from Camille about a facebook status about a tweet about a picture on instagram and apparently we have a new guy coming to school today! He is supposed to be INSANELY hot but I heard he was kind of a player too, but then again so are we! Anyway, he's single and ready to mingle! You want him or should I take him?"

I groan and reply back into the phone, "Well I want to see what makes him so hot before we make any _drastic _decisions." A smile plays on my lips and Isabelle says,

"Do I sense a slut in our midst?"

I scoff and say in my defense, "NO! You know I never go that far!"

She giggles and says, "Haha, yeah I know, but we still gotta get the info on mister hotty with the gorgeous body!"

"Alright Iz, I gotta shower and get ready. Meet you at school?" She says yes and I crawl out of my warm bed and into the freezing shower. I never take warm showers because they put me back to sleep. Once I get dried off, I blow-dry my hair and straighten it out of its stubborn curls. I apply dark eye shadow, black mascara, and black eyeliner to make my green eyes more mysterious and dramatic. I slip on a dark grey tank top, dark skinny jeans, black combat boots, and a red leather jacket. I grab my bag and head out of the door. Once I get downstairs I notice that dad already left. He leaves me a note on the counter but I don't read it. Instead I just crumble it up and throw it away. I have hardly seen my dad for three days. He is always at the office but when he isn't he's at the bar or working on some 'out of town' business. I also have a brother that is 18 now. He looks just like our father with the same strong facial features and the same blonde hair and dark eyes.

My mom left us when I was 10. Dad never talks about her but I heard him mention once when he was drunk something about another guy. Valentine can be cruel at times though, so I don't blame her if she wanted to leave him- but I do blame her for not taking Jonathan and I with her. So since then I kind of shut everyone out. I grab an apple and my motorcycle helmet. I take a couple bites of the sour apple and throw it on the grass. I stuff my bag into the compartment in the seat of my motorcycle and put my helmet on. I start the black bike and flip down the face guard on my helmet and speed off. I am almost at school when I am stopped at a red light. I look to my left and see a stranger in a red mustang. His windows are down so I can lightly hear the music he has blaring on the radio. I recognize the song as Demons by Imagine Dragons.

The stranger notices that I have my attention turned towards him. He looks me up and down as though he is checking me out. I smirk though I know he can't see it. He must notice that I not have guy legs so he smirks a little. I take a little time to notice how good looking he is. He has golden hair that curls just the right way, strong and defined cheek bones and jaw bone, and a very sexy smirk if I don't say so myself. I can't see his eyes though because he has them concealed by a pair of Ray-Ban glasses. I nap my head back towards the road and wait for the light to turn green. When it does I speed off as fast as I can but it seems as though Goldie wants to race. I smirk again under my helmet and twist the throttle farther back, sending me farther down the road. He increases the gas as well and this little game just became a competition that I refuse to lose. I twist the throttle even farther and I speed past him. I am arriving at the school first and park my motorcycle. I get off of the motorcycle just as the golden stranger pulls up near me. He hops out of his car- not looking too happy over his loss- and spots me getting my bag out of the seat. He takes off his sunglasses, revealing a pair of golden eyes and walks over to me.

"You know, if you wanted to get my attention you could of just waited for me here like all the other girls." He gestures behind him to a crowd of 16-18 year old girls that are holding their purses and wearing miniskirts and tank tops. I roll my eyes and he says, "Well, are you going to say something? You aren't even going to let me see your face?"

I smirk and take off my helmet, my hair swinging free in the wind. He grins like a Cheshire cat and holds out his hand in a hand shake and says, "Well, hello there. I'm Jace Herondale."

I glare at him then give him a smirk and reply to him without shaking his hand, "And I'm out of your league." With that I throw my helmet into the compartment in the seat of the bike and waltz past him. I can tell he is shocked that I didn't react to his charm so I grin when he can't see me but I can feel his gaze burning holes in my back. I see Izzy and she is staring at me with her eyebrows arched and tells me, "That was the new guy and he was TOTALLY checking out your butt when you walked away from him!"

I smirk and she asks, "So you want me to take this one?" and to that I reply, "Actually, I think I may want this one." I begin to think of all the fun that I could have with this idiot.

She smiles and says, "Well I guess you will play him a lot better than me… I don't know if I would be able to let him go, I mean… LOOK AT HIM! He's positively sexy!" I laugh at her and her brother, Alec, comes over to greet us with my brother Jonathan who spent the night over at their house last night. He and Alec have been friends since they were in diapers.

"Hey Clare," Alec greets me. I wave at him and look at Jonathan who makes his way next to me and puts his elbow on my shoulder.

I shrug him off and say, "Yeah Jonathan, I know I'm short." He laughs at me and asks, "Have you seen a guy about my height with blonde hair and goldish eyes? He's muscular… goes by the name of Jace?"

I gape at him and ask, "You know that tool? Yeah I saw him and right now he is being attacked by all those girls over there. How do you know him?"

"Well, we met about a month ago. Last month at our game against Idris High school, he was there playing on the other team. He said he was transferring here." I nod my head and he asks again, "So, you think you could show me and Alec towards him? I don't see him."

I roll my eyes and say, "Yeah, sure." I start to walk towards the army of skanks. "Get out of the way!" I order the girls and they silence themselves quickly and part themselves like the red sea. I walk through the crowd towards the cause of the commotion. Jace turns around and sees me first and asks, "Come back for me, Red?" I roll my eyes and say, "Jonathan, are you sure you want to hang around this tool?"

Jace gasps dramatically and exclaims, "Me, a tool? What a judgmental thing to say to someone you hardly know!" I turn my attention towards him and say, "You are far too immature to make a statement like that." He scoffs and says, "Whatever you say, shortcake."

I turn around and leave the boys to their talking and grab Isabelle's arm. We walk over to her car and sit on the hood while Sebastian, Simon, Jordan, Maia, and a couple guys from the basketball, football, baseball, and soccer team come over to us. "Hey sexy," says Daniel- goalie for our soccer team. I take a deep breath and say back to him in a low voice, "Hey you," I brush my hand up and down his arm slowly, making him shiver a bit.

Sebastian groans and shouts out, "Is this really the place? I mean, we could all be a little classy and do this behind the bleachers." I see Isabelle turn her attention towards him and ask, "What is it Seb, afraid of ruining your 'perfect' reputation?" I snicker but become more aware of things when the bell rings. I feel Daniel slouch in disappointment and I smirk and get off the hood of the car with Izzy and walk to first period.

Our first block is art- one of my favorites. Mrs. Drakeyard walks in wearing her usual black pencil skirt and ruffled white blouse, her hair in a tight bun on top of her head, and a coat of 50 cent red lip stick. She begins to lecture us on the importance of symmetry and movement in a painting but I just tune her out and begin to swirl the oil pastels onto the white canvas. About twenty minutes after I have started, I hear someone clear their throat next to me. I look to my right and see that it is that arrogant, Jace Herondale sitting there with that sexy smirk on his face. "Very nice painting," he says with a wink. I roll my eyes and turn my attention back to the canvas but say to him, "So tell me Herondale, exactly how many times are you planning on seducing me?"

He raises his eyebrow and says, "How many times will it take?"

I scoff and continue swirling the oil paint onto the canvas and say to him, "Get in line Goldie Locks."

"It seems as though you have many guys willing to engage in some form of… _pleasure._ So why put your attention on me?"

I look at him with a straight face and say without any emotion, "Because it's just that easy."

He looks taken aback but quickly recovers and says in a low voice, "You know I can't help but believe that somewhere way, way, way, WAY deep down, there is a part of you that is vulnerable enough to do anything I say. So tell me Clary, what happened to you that made you become so secluded? I know you weren't always like this," I stop painting and stare at the canvas as he continues, "So tell me, was it a bad breakup, a fight with your BFF, oh no don't tell me… daddy issues?" he says in a sarcastic voice.

I tense up but unfortunately he notices. "Oh, I see. It _is_ daddy issues. What happened, he didn't by you that designer cashmere that you were just DYING for? Oh you poor thing, how have you survived this long?"

I take a deep breath and look back at him- forcing tears back. "I don't know you, you don't know me, but for whatever reason you feel like you have the power to manipulate me. News flash buddy, you don't control me and you DEFINITELY don't know me, so stop pretending you do!" I turn back to my canvas, leaving a shocked Jace in his seat. He tries to get my attention throughout the rest of class but I put my headphones in and tune him out. He even grabs my arm but learns that was a mistake as I twist his wrist. He reels back and puts his attention on his pathetic drawing of a river in the Nile.

I finish my painting and am thoroughly proud of the outcome-bare tree with a gorgeous sunset behind it. The yellow, orange, and blue mix so smoothly… I get lost looking at it and don't notice the bell going off. I pull out my headphones and stuff my phone back into my bag and grab my painting to turn in. I am exiting the room when I hear, "Clary, WAIT!" I turn around and see Jace racing towards me. I groan and spin back around but he grabs my shoulder.

Everyone in the hallway is starring at us- because everyone knows that you don't touch Clary Morgenstern- and I grab his hand and say, "Oh Herondale, don't you recall the last time you chose to lay your hand on me?"

"Yeah I know but I want to say something to you… in private." I smirk at all the people starring- even a few teacher- and wink at one of the guys.

I mummer back to him, "You've said enough," and shake my shoulder from his grasp and walk away.

**JPOV:**

I realized that I may have gone a little far after the whole 'art incident' but I still wanted to know why it hit her so hard, so I go talk to the person that knows her best- Jonathan.

"Hey Jon, I got to talk to you!" He stops in the hall and turns towards me. I walk to him and begin speaking, "Your sister-Clary- what's her deal? Why is she so stubborn and mean?"

He rolls his eyes and asks, "You mean why is she the way she is?" I nod.

He says, "Well don't tell her I said this to you, but when we were younger, our mom left us. Our dad never told us why but since he left he got into the alcohol pretty bad. Drinking all the time, never around, Clary has never trusted anyone since then. But there was this one night… I wasn't there, I was at some dumb party- but when I came home vases were broken on the floor, picture frames of us and our mom were smashed, broken beer bottles and alcohol puddles were everywhere, and there was a little bit of blood on the wall. I go to ask Clary what happened and if she was okay, but all she did was yell at me- 'Jonathan just go to sleep! I don't want to talk about this ever again, don't mention it ever again!' so I never did."

I scrunch my eyebrows up in confusion and ask, "So what happened?"

He shrugs and says, "I'm not sure. She came out that morning with a bloody lip and a big bruise on her collar bone. I didn't ask her what happened, but ever since then she has been this intimidating, stubborn, ass-hole. But she's my baby sister and I will do anything to protect her, including beating the shit out of you if you even think about playing with her."

I nod and stare at the floor, thinking of all the mistakes I've made with this girl when all along- she was probably crumbling inside that harden shell. I need to find her, apologize and I need to find out what happened that night- I want to make thing right with this girl and I don't know why.

_A/N: Thank you for reading! For all of you who read my other Clace fic- Unexpected Love- here is that story I promised you all! Thank you for reading! R&R!_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Hope you enjoy this chapter!_

"Hello?" I say into the phone.

"Hey, Clary I need to talk to you." The voice is deep and smooth so I ask, "Is this Jace by any chance?"

I hear him chuckle as he replies, "The one and only. Hey listen, meet me at Taki's in twenty minutes- it's important." He doesn't give me time to respond when I hear the phone click off. I groan and roll out of my comfortable spot on my bed and put on a pair of light faded jeans, an oversized black shirt with a gold zipper on one side, a leather wrap around studded watch, and a pair of black lace up wedges with studs on the top. I do my makeup dark and dangerous and leave my hair down in its natural curls.

"Jonathan, I'm going out!" I yell and I hear a faint, "Whatever," come from his room. He must be talking on the phone with one of his many admirers. I roll my eyes and grab my wallet and phone and head out of the house. I drive to Taki's on my motorcycle, causing people to stare when I park outside. I smirk and swing my leg over the side of the bike. I walk in and see Jace is already seated and he is flirting with a blonde waitress. She looks familiar and is about my age so she must go to our school. I smirk and waltz over ever so slowly so that she can hear the click of my shoes. I walk past her and sit down across from Jace.

She scrunches her nose at me and makes a face of disgust. I scoff and shoot her daggers, causing her to take a deep breath and get our orders. "Uh, I want the veggie burger," says Jace. She turns her beady little eyes to me but I pretend that I am still deciding- just to make her a little madder.

"Hmm," I ponder and tap my finger to my chin. She throws her hands down at her waist and exclaims, "It's not that hard to decide, you know?!" I look at her with a grin on my face and my eyebrows rose. She rolls her eyes and I say, "Just give me a burger, Barbie." She rolls her eyes and mutters something to herself and turns back to place our orders.

I chuckle and look at Jace who has a lopsided grin playing on his lips. "So what did you want?" I ask, sounding bored.

His grin disappears and he turns rather serious and asks, "What's going on with you? For some reason you don't strike me as a very vulnerable person, so why did you freak out so bad yesterday?"

I look him in the eye with a scowl on my face and say harshly, "You don't even know me."

He sighs and says, "Maybe I want to,"

"And what if I don't want you to?"

"I don't think you have much of a choice."

I want to scream at him to leave me alone but I just say, "You always have a choice. And I choose to end this conversation. You can have my burger, I'm leaving." I stand up and begin to walk towards the door when his hand stops me.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to touch me!?"

He ignores my threat and says, "You don't have to shut everybody out, I know about your mom and I'm sorry. I could-" I stop him and whirl around to see his eyes filled with pleading and want.

"Don't you ever talk about her again! I don't know why my life is so interesting to you, but you need to cut it out! I swear I am going to KILL Jonathan for even thinking he could trust you with that!" I storm out of the restaurant and hop on my bike.

I am about to put my helmet on when I hear, "Clary, hold on. I need to say something." I am on the verge of tears but I refuse to let him see me cry. I haven't let anyone see me cry since mom left. No one has even come close to making me like this, so why was I letting this guy?

"Make it quick, I have plans."

He sighs and says, "Look, you're right, I don't know you. I want to know you- but you won't let me, just give me a chance? I may surprise you."

I shake my head and give an exasperated laugh and look at the inside of my helmet and say, "Why is it that before you, I was able to stand up to anything, and now I feel like I'm messing it all up. What is it about you that you are able to uncover all of my secrets?"

I look back up at him and see his gaze fixed on the ground. I would have expected a sarcastic response by now but he just says, "Maybe it's not that I am able to- but that you are letting me."

My eyes turn cold and I say, "I would never." And I put my helmet on and drive away.

Once I return home, I go straight to Jonathan's room and yell at him, "What the hell is wrong with you?! You would let a guy that you hardly knew know about mom?! I mean what kind of bastard does that?! Why would you tell him anything, huh? Why?!"

His face is in shock so I hit him on the side of the head and say, "Answer me!"

"Ugh, look Clary, ever since that day, you have become the most stubborn, selfish- I just don't know what's wrong with you! I'm sorry if I let someone know your little secret but maybe he can help,"

"Would you all stop saying that?! I don't want help- I don't need it. I have never needed help and I don't need it now, so stop giving all your attention to a 'lost cause'!"

I storm out of the room, leaving Jonathan screaming my name behind. I turn on my IPod and crank the music up loud through my stereo.

_Love of mine, some day you will die  
But I'll be close behind  
I'll follow you into the dark  
No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white  
Just our hands clasped so tight  
Waiting for the hint of a spark_

If Heaven and Hell decide  
That they both are satisfied  
Illuminate the "No"'s on their vacancy signs  
If there's no one beside you  
When your soul embarks  
Then I'll follow you into the dark

In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule  
I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black  
And I held my tongue as she told me,  
"Son, fear is the heart of love."  
So I never went back

If Heaven and Hell decide  
That they both are satisfied  
Illuminate the "No"'s on their vacancy signs  
If there's no one beside you  
When your soul embarks  
Then I'll follow you into the dark

You and me have seen everything to see  
From Bangkok to Calgary  
And the soles of your shoes are all worn down  
The time for sleep is now  
It's nothing to cry about  
'Cause we'll hold each other soon  
In the blackest of rooms

If Heaven and Hell decide  
That they both are satisfied  
Illuminate the "No"'s on their vacancy signs  
If there's no one beside you  
When your soul embarks  
Then I'll follow you into the dark  
Then I'll follow you into the dark

I lie on my bed and listen to the song over and over again until I fall asleep on the unmade bed and dread tomorrow's occurrence.

_A/N: Sorry about the short chapter! Credits- I Will Follow You Into The Dark, by. Death Cab for Cutie_

_Thank you for reading this- even though it was pretty short. I will try to make later chapters longer! R&R _


	3. Chapter 3

_TWO WEEKS LATER…_

It's been two weeks since that little confrontation with Jace and Jon. Since then, Jace has been less persistent but still getting on my nerves- I however, am pretending that it never happened.

I wake up feeling my mattress dip in as though someone was beginning to lie down beside me. I open my eyes in an instant and see it is just Jonathan sitting next to me with a grin on his face. I groan and pull the velvet covers over my head in an attempt to shut him out. He chuckles and I feel him get off the bed. I sigh but then I feel him pulling on my feet. "Jonathan, NO- get out!"

"Clary, Clary, Clary- you know better than to think I would forget you birthday!"

"It's not a big deal, Jon! Compared to all the other days in the year, it's not that different!" I hear him sigh and with one final pull, he pulls me out of bed and onto the hard-wood floor.

"Ow, Jonathan you A-hole!" he laughs and sits next to me. We both bend our knees up and he drapes his arms over his knees while I fold my hands in my lap.

"Now, what do you want to talk about? Did one of your many girlfriends finally get tired of your games and wants to take things to 'the next level?'?"

He scoffs and says, "May I ask you the same thing? How are your boyfriendSby the way? Still drooling on your precious bike and fantasizing over their hour with you until you have to spend time with your other bitches?"

I laugh and say, "As always." And he grins.

"No really Clare, maybe you want to talk about today?"

"What's to talk about?"

"It's your 18th birthday- I thought maybe you would be a little gloomier that 'you-know-who' isn't here again."

I sigh and say, "She left eight years ago, so she has missed eight of my birthdays- so what? I've gotten this far and it's been a walk in the park. I don't need her to be here for me and apparently she doesn't feel obligated enough to check and make sure I'm okay so, no I'm not going to sit here and sulk over someone who will never be there for me even though I desperately need her to be."

He stares at me and then nudges me with his leg and says in a low voice, "You don't always have to be so strong Clare. The world isn't going to fall apart if you let yourself be a little vulnerable once in a while."

"And how would we know that?"

He doesn't speak for while but then says, "You are capable of so much more than this Clary. It's hard seeing you put yourself out to all those guys like that. Now, I'm not going to turn this into some cheesy movie by saying something stupid like, 'just follow your dreams little lamb' or anything like that, but really Clare-Bear, remember that where you invest your love- you invest your life."

I roll my eyes and say, "Jon, I hardly think this is the time to quote Mumford and sons. And anyway, you know that I don't believe in love."

"And why not? Why is that so impossible for you?"

"Because… _love_ is just one big distraction from what's really important. Love causes complications and problems, and I don't have time for pointless obstacles caused by something that could have been avoided if I had just stopped to think about what I was doing."

"Okay then tell me, what is so important that it makes you sacrifice love?"

I stare off into space and say, "I'll tell you when I find out."

He nods and gets up off the floor. He walks towards the door but before he leaves he says, "Just open your mind up to it- the possibility that someone out there is going to love you for you and not your body, that someone isn't going to care about who you used to be but who are you going to be."

I don't look at him- I just stare at the floor until he leaves. After a moment I get up and begin to get ready. I take a cold shower and blow-dry my hair and straighten it into subtle waves. I put on dark eyeliner and mascara and bronzer. I then put on dark brown, tribal print shorts and a long sleeve, beige sweater. I put in a pair of diamond earrings and a couple of black bangles and a pair of dark green vans.

"Jon, I'm leaving!"

"You don't want a ride?"

"No, not really. I would rather take the bike."

I hear him mumble an okay and I grab my phone, wallet, and helmet and head to school. Once I get there, I see Isabelle in a pair of pink shorts and a white, chiffon, crop top. Once I get off the bike she runs over to me and yells, "Happy Birthday!" I smile at her and she begins to walk over to our usual place on the hood of her car. I stop in my tracks- remembering the conversation that I had with Jonathan this morning. I had definitely formed a reputation here as a player and badass; was I really willing to give that up? I didn't believe in love and everyone knew that. Only the idiots would try to change my mind but they would fail horribly.

Isabelle turns around with a questioning look on her face. "What are you doing?" she asks.

"You know Iz; I think I need to go to the bathroom real quick. I will meet with you later, yeah?"

She shrugs and says okay and saunters back over to the crowd of waiting boys. I let out a large, exhausted breath. I rub the back of my neck with my hand. What was happening to me? I have never been like this! I go to the garden in the back of the school that's used for the biology kids and sit on a bench. After about five minutes of solace, I hear footsteps behind me and figure that it could only be one person. "I was wondering when you were going to show up."

"Well, you know that I would never forget a die like this."

I look over into his golden eyes and ask, "What am I doing?"

He smirks and says, "You are doing the only thing you know how… and for right now, that's okay." I nod my head and direct my gaze back to the white and red flowers.

"You ever think that we could be more than… well more than what we are now?" he asks.

I shrug and say, "I don't know. But then again I'm not sure I know anything anymore."

He sighs, clearly disappointed with my answer until he says again, "You know, my very good friend Jacque Cousteau once said that when one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself."

"Where are you going with this Jace?" I ask with a small smile.

"Well, I happen to believe that you have an opportunity for an extraordinary life, but for whatever reason you haven't given yourself reason to believe that you can do more. You can be more than this, Clary."

"What if I can't… what if it really is impossible?" I ask with as much sincerity as possible.

He laughs a little and says, "It is so easy to give up- _so_ easy, but it takes courage to keep going, even when everything and everyone is against you. Believe me, I know. You don't really come off as a person who would give up." He turns to face me and I face him too.

I don't say anything else, I just lean towards him so that our lips are nearly touching and he says, "I guess it's my turn to be scared?" I smile and press my lips to his gently. He returns the kiss and we break apart and he places his forehead against mine.

"Thanks for all this… advice thing that you have going on here," I say and laugh a little.

He chuckles and says, "So does this mean that you aren't going to try and seduce every guy that passes you anymore."

I smirk and nod my head against his.

This may be the end of my 'good times' and I may be happy of it.

_A/N: alright, kind of a short chapter but, hey I have cross-country tomorrow! Anyway, this chapter was kind of slow due to all of the 'touching moments' in here between Clary, Jace, and Jonathan. I promise you that in the next chapter- THERE WILL BE CONFLICT! Thanks for reading- PLEASE REVIEW!_


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